Re: OT - Keyshawn

> > > I can compare this... IMO, the Bengals have been a 7-9 to 8-8 team for
> > > awhile. Mr. Brown just can't keep his grubby little paws off the team
> > > -- until now -- and he fucked up any kind of chance any other coach
> > > had with the Bengals team.
> > 
> > So, a meddling owner steps aside and suddenly the team wins? 
> 
> Duuuuuude. Mike Brown conducted all of the drafts... he told them who
> to pick and when. No other coach had any control over the draft...
> they may have had minimal input, but he had final say.
> 
> He constantly would allow coaches to pursue other players in free
> agency [read Fletcher etc...] and when the decision came down to him
> to ink the deal, he'd pick some shitty fucker on the squad and tell
> the coach 'Yo, we got Joe Blow here who's the answer.'

I can give another example of what happens when an owner steps aside
and lets the coach have more input: The Denver Broncos.

When Pat Bowlen fired Dan Reeves, he originally wanted to get Mike
Shanahan, but all reports was Shanahan wanted more control. Bowlen
wasn't willing to give him that control, so he ended up going with
Wade Phillips, who just wanted to coach and that's was it.

The result? The Broncos were mediocre. Phillips was a lousy head
coach, that's for sure, but over time, I believe Bowlen realized that
if the Broncos were going to win, he needed not just a good coach, but
to allow said coach to have plenty of input. In comes Shanahan and he
got results.

I think Jerry Jones, who is certainly an owner who is big on wanting
inout with his team, has realizd enough that Bill Parcells needs to
have plenty of input as well. The result: The Cowboys are winning.

A good coach can get results, but only if he's allowed to do what he
needs to do in order to get those results. If he's not allowed to do
that, he's going to struggle.

As for who previously coached the Bengals, Wyche got respectable
results until Mike Brown started meddling. I don't think Wyche was
that good, but I think it's pretty clear his downfall is because of
Brown. As for Shula and Lebeau, I don't think Lebeau had respect from
his players (and that's necessary in order for a coach to succeed) and
Shula just didn't seem to be NFL head coach material.

And as far as talent goes, the Bengals had Peter Warrick and Chad
Johnson developing. Johnson certainly showed last season he was on the
verge of breaking out. Warrick, right now, appears to be a player who
had the talent, it just needed to be used properly. Kitna has never
struck me as a great quarterback, but with the right coaching, he gets
results. It's the same thing with Brad Johnson, who didn't get result
under Dungy (and I stand by my statement that Dungy doesn't know how
to coach an offense that well) but got it under Gruden, who knew how
to direct a QB.

Dungy will do fine in Indy because Peyton Manning isn't a quarterback
who absolutely needs the coach to give him direction. The only
question with Manning is whether he can emerge as a team leader in the
playoffs. If he does that and Dungy keeps the defense strong, the
Colts will be going to the Super Bowl soon enough. If one or the other
doesn't materialize, they won't get there.

But again, Dungy's strength is with defense. He's got a QB now who
doesn't need to be coached to win. But a talented QB like Manning is
one who should be able to find a way to win in the playoffs on his
own. QBs like Aikman, Elway and Young found ways to do it. Marino did
early in his career but then faded. If Manning can't find a way to be
a leader in the playoffs, he'll be like Marino: A talented quarterback
who posted great regular season numbers but never amounted to much
when playoff time arrived.

But that's a whole other topic. :)

At any rate, I do believe Cincy had the talent to be better than the
record indicated and that Mike Brown needed to quit taking too much
control. The results are evident this season. We shall see if Marvin
Lewis can do more than just keep the Bengals an AFC North division
contender.

Oh yeah, the AFC North: Preseason stuff showed that Pittsburgh had the
best offense, Baltimore had the best defense, Cleveland was somewhere
in between and Cincinnati would be "wait until next year." At least
that's what all the national sportswriters wrote.

Bob Morris
Thinks Pittsburgh got exposed in several areas this season, like that
Tommy Maddox isn't that good and that Amos Z. didn't have the
qualities to be the primary running back.